Category Archives: communication

The Dreaded IEP Meeting

Posted on May 2, 2014 by | 32 comments

Those annual IEP (Individualized Education Plans) meetings all parents of children with “special needs” attend are something I used to dread.  Meant to ensure our children are given the supports and accommodations they need, I went to our first meeting with eager anticipation.  This was where, I thought, we would be able to work with a team of people all of whom had the same goal for our child – getting and giving her the best supports and accommodations available so that she could flourish.

What quickly became apparent however was that this was when her team would write a series of bullet points describing all that was wrong with her.  All the ways in which she fell short, all the ways she demonstrated how incapable she was, were described in detail, documented and added to her growing file.  This was the time, once a year, when I would sit and listen to that itemization, fighting back my tears.  The few things said during that first IEP meeting that were supposedly positive regarding spoken language, were written as a criticism, “…uses gestures to whine or protest.  She is described as shouting or vocalizing to gain attention.”   I would leave these meetings feeling hopeless and filled with the sort of despair I described in yesterday’s post, Dare to Hope.

Today, almost ten years after that first IEP was written, Emma writes by pointing to letters on a letter board and more recently with both her RPM teacher and me, she is typing on a bluetooth keyboard attached to an iPad.  No one touches her as she writes.  Emma has written before about the words that come out of her mouth.  I will quote her, since the way she describes what happens to her when she speaks is far more descriptive and eloquent than anything I might write.  Emma wrote yesterday in her IEP meeting, “I try to talk, but the words just come out wrong.”  A few months ago she wrote how she wished people would, “listen to my writing voice, but they listen to my talking voice instead.”

As always, I asked Emma if I could write this post about her first IEP, as an example of the assumptions made and how far off we were in our thinking as well as a document for those of you who are at the beginning of all of this.  Emma generously agreed that this was a good idea and wrote, “know that just because a kid doesn’t talk or talks like me, doesn’t mean the words that come out are the same words that are in their mind.”  Regarding her so-called “behaviors” which Emma describes as a body/mind disconnection, she wrote,”I hope to better control my misbehaving body, but sometimes it won’t obey.”

A few weeks ago I asked Emma if she could remember when she was very young.  She wrote, “Yes, my body could not behave because I was not able to cope… too many competing sensations.  I couldn’t make sense of everything that did not connect me with my irritable body.”  Now keeping her words in mind, read these words taken from her IEP, dated 2005 (Emma was three years old):

Emma avoids “looking others in the eye, does not answer when people talk to her, does not get along with other children, seems unresponsive to affection and shows little affection towards people, withdrawn…”

“The skills that she does not show evidence of include:  does not yet engage in make believe play, does not yet match objects, complete interlocking puzzles, repeat digit sequences, identify body parts or show understanding of number concepts.  She does not yet point to body parts, clothing items, prepositional commands, or know size.  She does not participate in story telling or give her full name or use pronouns… and shows limited interest in other children.”

The report goes on to say:

  “She does not vocalize when another person calls her name.  She produces a variety of consonant sounds.”

When I read Emma’s words and the way she describes some of what was going on for her and compare her words to the words written on her IEP, it is impossible not to see the massive disconnect between what was actually going on and what all of us assumed was going on.  It is from those assumptions that her goals were then created.  Goals such as:  “Emma will increase communicative intent via word and/or gesture to consistently request object article/toy/food (8/10) trials.”  “Emma will maintain eye contact and prompt (8/10) trials.” “Emma will use at least 10 objects functionally, 4/5x”  “Emma will imitate 1-2 word utterances during play, 4/5x” the list goes on, but the goals are all either regarding compliance and/or acting according to non autistic standards of behavior using spoken language.

In contrast, yesterday we went to Emma’s IEP meeting with Emma, who contributed her own thoughts and opinions about the goals that were set by writing on the keyboard I held for her.   At one point she wrote, “it’s very good having time to go over goals.”  And when asked about the efficacy of being asked to use a mood chart, she wrote, “Sometimes I feel many things at once.  Would the mood chart work for you?”

Can I just say how proud I am that my daughter asked this question?  And by the way – No, Emma, being asked to chart my moods or anticipate what my mood might be would not work for me.  I think it would actually really piss me off if I was asked, while feeling both upset, sad, frustrated, maybe a little frightened and annoyed  to use one word to describe what I was feeling and then was asked, “What’s wrong?” when I could not rely on spoken language to adequately express myself and no one could support me in the way I needed, so that I could write either.

What was wonderful about yesterday’s IEP meeting was that her staff is dedicated and completely committed to listening to Emma and learning from her what it is that she needs and wants.  Everyone was kind, thoughtful and patient and in the end we have an IEP that reflects our goals for Emma, but more importantly it is a reflection of her goals for herself.

Emma the year before that first IEP

Emma ~ 2004, the year before that first IEP

 

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Outpouring of Words ~ By Emma Zurcher-Long

Posted on April 30, 2014 by | 25 comments

Three Haikus By Emma Zurcher-Long for #AutismPositivity2014

*Emma writes by typing on a bluetooth qwerty keyboard attached to her iPad.  For more about the way Emma communicates, read – How we Got Here

Springtime
My writing blossoms
greeting welcoming smiles of
 encouragement gladly.
Springtime

Springtime

Frog
Green with envy you
strain to jump as far and high
daring to come close.
Frog

Frog

Rain
Lashing down, I run
to find shelter but there’s none,
laughter, roaming, I stay.
Rain

Rain

As the parent to a child who has been described as “verbal” but who was thought to be unable to understand much of what was said to her because she could not answer with spoken language questions such as, “How old are you?”  I will never be able to adequately describe what it is like to read my daughter’s words.

This blog began as a document of hope for our daughter, but it has evolved to become a message of hope to parents who feel the kind of despair and terror I once did.   As Emma wrote, “I am smarter than most people think.  So many kids are just like me.”

This post is dedicated to the Autism Positivity Flashblog going on all day today.

If you would like to submit to the flashblog, here is the submission form.

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“Self-Knowledge Avails Us Nothing”

Posted on April 15, 2014 by | 13 comments

There are things I forget to talk about with my daughter.  Things that someone will mention or I’m reminded of in some other context and suddenly I’ll think – Gosh, why haven’t I discussed this with her?  These are things a parent would typically talk to their child about, but that because my daughter cannot easily communicate her thoughts I, without meaning to, do not immediately think to talk about with her.  This is the impact my limiting ideas about language and not being able to communicate through spoken language have on my daughter.  It doesn’t always occur to me to discuss with her a great many things until I am reminded.   Out of respect for my daughter I am keeping this post purposefully vague.

I am moving along here, learning as I go and continue to make a great many mistakes.  I have never deluded myself into believing the – making mistakes – part will end, the most I can hope for is that I won’t continue to make the same mistakes, but even so, I do.  I seem to need to repeat the same lesson many times before I am able to make lasting change.  It is a mistake to believe non Autistic neurology does not have trouble with transitions, generalizing information, learning something taught and immediately changing behavior to demonstrate this knowledge.  I will often know something, yet it will take many attempts before I am able to put that knowledge into practice.  You could say that my actions lag way behind what I know or believe.

In the 12 step rooms there is a saying – “self-knowledge avails us nothing.”  What is meant by this is that we can intellectually know something and yet that knowledge does not produce a change in the way we behave.  The only way to change is by doing something differently.  How easy that sounds and yet, look around, people have struggled with this since the beginning of mankind.  Addiction is the obvious example, but there are other, far more subtle things that are great examples of how we want to do something – eat better, exercise, be polite, more friendly, etc –  we know it would be better if we did whatever it was, only to find ourselves unable to do it.  Behavior modification, were it as helpful as many seem to believe, should have helped anyone who has ever attempted to “just stop” and yet it has shown itself as useless.  Unless behavior modification is used in its most extreme form, which I would argue is not dissimilar to torture, in which case it will and does produce short-term change, though at a terrible cost to the person being “treated”, it does not help those of us who are trying hard to change our less than ideal ways of coping with discomfort, fear, pain, and suffering.

Change is hard.  Changing the way we act is even harder than changing a belief.  Yet, we expect and ask children to change all the time.  We tell them something and then when they do exactly what we’ve asked them not to do, we wonder why.  Except that they are behaving the way most of us behave.  Adults are no exception to this.  Now add a neurology that makes communicating more complicated and all kinds of misunderstandings develop.  Conclusions are drawn, ideas and theories are created to explain, and yet…

Recently Emma was asked about something that happened at school.  She wrote, “if every time you tried to speak, the wrong things came out of your mouth, how would you feel?”  We live in a society where people knowingly say and do hurtful things all the time, yet those people are not put in institutions, given random medications against their will, labeled as “low functioning, ostracized, given electric shocks, condemned and treated as though they were criminals.  I’m thinking of a number of radio and talk show hosts whose ratings soar the more outrageous and venomous they are.  These people are rewarded for such behavior!  I’ve never met a parent who said, “I want my child to grow up to be rude, disrespectful and a bigot.”  And yet…

Today I will suggest a few topics and ask both my children what they’d like to discuss.

Em & N. ~ 2010

Em & N. ~ 2010

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“Barb Doesn’t Talk” ~ Emma

Posted on April 10, 2014 by | 35 comments

I have a friend who, when they met over a year ago, Emma observed, “Barb doesn’t talk“.  “Doesn’t talk” means she doesn’t talk with her mouth to communicate the way she can and does when writing.  Her name is Barb Rentenbach and she and her therapist, Lois Prislovsky wrote a book, I Might Be You.  I’ve written about Barb and Lois before, ‘here‘, ‘here‘, ‘here‘ and ‘here‘.  If you haven’t read their book, you must.  (Continue reading for a surprise later in this post about that book.)

I met Barb at the Autcom Conference in 2012 and though I didn’t know it at the time, Barb and Lois  would have an enormous impact on me that was far-reaching.  You see, it was because of Larry Bissonnette, Tracy Thresher, a boy I saw writing to communicate, and finally Barb, all of whom I met at the Autcom Conference, that I began looking into other ways for my daughter to communicate.  (You can read more about the process by clicking “How We Got Here“.)  Even though Emma can and does use her voice to speak, she has described her attempts to communicate with spoken language as, “I can’t talk the way I think.”  Later Emma wrote, “Please remember that my mind tells my body and my mouth to do all sorts of wonderful things constantly, but they don’t obey.”

In Barb’s most recent blog post (I urge everyone to read it) – Open Hearted Letter Quilt to Andrew Solomon –  she writes about autism, empathy, and how autistic people are often misunderstood:

“It’s like Saxe’s (1873) poem, “The Blindmen and the Elephant” where each blind man is partly in the right as he describes an elephant piece he studies, but all are in the wrong in knowing an elephant.

This autistic pachyderm will expand perceptions by presenting more pieces.”

Barb goes on to describe herself, “I don’t look normal.  I appear quite messed up and a prime candidate for nothing but pity and patronization, with a sprinkling of repulsion and fear.  I am disguised as a poor thinker.”

Still further along she quotes Emma:

“To quote my mentor Emma who is 12 (This old dog is all about learning new tricks) who wrote this by saying each letter aloud she pointed to it on a stencil board, “Autism is not what parents want to hear, but I hope that will change as more people get to know someone like me.”

This short video shows Barb typing just a few days ago.

Now there are some people who have suggested Barb is not typing on her own.  They believe that the person whose two fingers are tentatively touching her back are actually guiding her and that it is their voice and not hers that we are reading. This is a video of Barb writing four months ago…

And here is a video of Barb typing in 2011…

I am showing you these clips so you can see Barb’s obvious progress and please note, Barb is not a child.  I know that’s obvious, but it seems many people forget this or have trouble believing that people of all ages can and do progress.  Just as Barb works hard to become more independent while typing, so does my daughter.  Emma’s way of writing is slightly different in that no one is physically touching her and she points to letters on a letter board,  but she is working hard to move from pointing to the stencil letter board to the laminated letter board to a qwerty keyboard, with the eventual goal – being able to type on a computer regardless of who might be seated nearby.

As all these videos show, none of this is easy.  Barb is working hard and so is Emma.  Some days go more smoothly than others.  As Barb writes –

“I often politely ask my brain to please move my hand to do this or that only to be told, “We’re sorry due to high autism volume we are not able to answer your call at this time.  Please try harder later.”

For any of you who would like to have a hard cover copy of Barb and Lois’ terrific book, I Might Be You, I am giving away five hard cover copies.  Please comment below, saying something about yourself and why this book is of interest.  I will place all comments into a hat and will choose five at random.  If your comment is chosen I will contact you, via the email you use to comment, for your street address, where I will send you your copy of Barb and Lois’ MUST READ book at no cost to you and in appreciation to Barb, Lois and Emma for their hard work in bringing much-needed awareness to all who are like Barb and my daughter!

Emma, Barb Rentenbach and Lois Prislovsky

Emma, Barb Rentenbach and Lois Prislovsky

 

 

 

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Respectful Engagement

Posted on April 8, 2014 by | 22 comments

Respect.  I think about this word a great deal.  There are things I do, things I think in any given moment are examples of me teaching respect and yet in the teaching I am not modeling the respect I am trying to teach.  Here’s an example of what I mean –  (this example is fairly mundane, but it serves my purpose because it’s something that most of us can relate to.)

Let’s say Emma and I are in a new place.   Somewhere, perhaps like the place we recently went to give a talk on Autism Acceptance, where most or all of the people are strangers.  As we enter the room I notice someone I do know and they walk over to say hello.  My upbringing dictates that I introduce this person to my husband and daughter.  I do this by saying, “Hello _______, this is my husband, Richard, and my daughter, Emma.”  The person nods and says hello, maybe they even extend their hand.  My husband without thinking, says something along the lines of “Hello _______, it’s nice to meet you.”  Maybe they shake hands.  My daughter turns away saying nothing.  I am aware that this is not the conventional way (polite) to greet someone so I, without thinking, direct her, “Emma say hello to _________.”

I know enough not to ask her to touch the other person, even if they’ve extended their hand, but I forget that there may be a good reason for her non-greeting.  Perhaps the lights are too bright, or all these strangers are too much, perhaps she is overwhelmed, or the noise is making it difficult for her to concentrate on any one thing.  Perhaps she senses this person is not someone she gets a good vibe from, perhaps the person is standing too close to her.   Regardless of whether I know what could be causing her not to say hello, demanding that she do so, is not the best thing for me to do.

Instead, I might lean down and whisper in her ear, “Do you want to try saying hello to _____?”  If she does decide she’d like to and can, fine and if she cannot, for whatever reason, then that’s fine too.  But before I say something like this I will want to have done a lesson plan around “social niceties” or the things people say to each other and why they do so.  This is the ideal.  However this is not what I always do, because I forget, but these are the little things I constantly think about.  How can I parent better?  How could I have approached that situation more respectfully?  How can I use this as a teaching moment, not just for my daughter, but for myself?

One of the things I’ve learned over the years is that kindness, directed toward myself and others is the single best way most of us learn.  When someone yells at me, I don’t learn, in fact, I shut down.  Even if the person does not yell, but criticizes me, scolds me, directs me to do something without explanation, I feel myself becoming self-conscious or worse, shutting down.  I close in on myself.  I can’t hear what the other person is saying.  I become engaged in an internal battle.  When someone is respectful and kind, I am open and much more likely to listen to them.

People say things like – “oh but that takes such patience,” or “who has the time to do all that?”  I understand.  But I know that the other way, while easy and perhaps quick, is nothing more than a quick fix, if that.  The person may say the words I’ve just directed them to say, but the next time I will go through the same process.  But there’s an even more important piece to all of this, because one can argue, who cares about social convention?  Why should any of us care?  Why should we say hello to one another?  None of this matters.  And I agree, none of this is really the point, the bigger point is that I want my children to understand that we live in a world filled with other people who may or may not share their neurology and that many of those people when met for the first time may offer their hand, if in the United States, and say hello.  I want my children to not be put off by this, but know that they have the option to say hello if they are able to, or not and that I will be respectful of them no matter what their response is.

Directing my daughter to say words that I give her, is not being respectful of her and it also is not presuming competence.  When I give her words to say, I am allowing my issues around social convention to take precedence over respect for my daughter and her sensitivities to her environment.  I want to do better than that.

*I purposely have used the present tense, as this is something I continue to explore and am trying to do things differently.  This is very much a work in progress!

Dressed for spring rain - April 8th, 2014

Dressed for spring rain – April 8th, 2014

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Thoughts On Thinking

Posted on April 7, 2014 by | 32 comments

Friday evening I asked Emma whether she wanted to use the laminated letter board or a qwerty, bluetooth keyboard connected to the iPad.  She told me she wanted to write using the keyboard.  Emma has written on the keyboard during her RPM sessions with B., but this is not something I’ve attempted.  I have been reluctant to use the keyboard because Emma has done so well using the laminated letter board with me and I’m always worried about changing something that’s working well.  But when using the letter board I have to transcribe as she writes or hope that I’ll remember what she’s written, whereas with the keyboard it automatically types directly onto a document within the iPad.  Often I can’t remember what she’s written, or think I have remembered correctly, only to find out later I did not.

This was the case Wednesday night when Emma wrote in front of an audience at CoNGO.  I hadn’t stopped to transcribe her words as she wrote them, thinking I’d be able to remember, but once she’d finished the sentence, I couldn’t remember.  Afterward, when we thought we hadn’t recorded our presentation, I tried to remember what I thought she’d said – “Autism is not what parents want to hear, but I hope that will change as more people meet someone like me.”  What she actually wrote, once we found the video recording, I was disconcerted to learn, was – “Autism is not what parents want to hear, but I hope that will change as more people get to know someone like me.”  That is a subtle, yet significant difference.  I’m so sorry Emma for getting your words wrong.

Our goal has always been for Emma to write on a keyboard and eventually be able to write with the keyboard resting on the table, so that no one need hold it.  That she wrote both Friday evening and over the weekend on the keyboard is a huge leap forward and very exciting!!

So.  Friday evening Richard asked Emma for permission to ask her a few questions about thinking.  Now for those of you who know Richard, you will smile as you know this topic is one of his favorites.  He loves nothing more than to read and discuss thinking, consciousness, dreams, reality, and anything remotely related.  These are the topics Richard explores in his writing and the things he is fascinated with.  Richard wrote on Emma’s Hope Book FaceBook page – I “think” of “thinking” as my constantly chattering internal dialog.  I have long suspected that Emma has either NO internal dialog, or very little, and that what she “thinks” of as “thinking” must be very different from what I “think.”

Emma generously agreed to allow her dad to ask her a few questions though she did remind him that she had the timer on.

*I need to interject here that the following conversation is representative of Richard’s “thinking” and Emma’s as she describes it.  No one is suggesting that ALL people, either autistic or non autistic think as either of them do.  It would be a mistake to assume Richard is somehow representative of ALL non autistic people, though many may relate, or that Emma is representative of ALL Autistic people.

Richard:  Mom and I have this internal dialog going on all the time and that’s what we call “thinking”. How does this differ from the way you think?

Emma: I only think in voices when I am working with you (Ariane).

Ariane: Is this also true when you write with others?

Emma: Yes.

Richard: Do you see our internal dialog as an advantage or disadvantage compared to your own way of thinking?

Emma: It is more distracting than the way I think.

Richard: Tell us more about how you think. If it’s not with an internal dialogue, what is it like?

Emma: Know that I am almost always happy and take great pleasure in sounds, color, fabric.  Everything in life is beautiful if you are able to be here.

*Whoa!  “Everything in life is beautiful if you are able to be here.”  

Richard: I’m so used to thinking with an internal dialogue. It’s hard to imagine thinking without talking to myself.

Emma: Have you felt this always?

Richard: When I was a kid I didn’t talk to myself all the time. I was probably a lot happier. As I grew older, my internal dialog became stronger and now it’s there most of the time. I have to meditate or concentrate to temper it.

Emma: It’s too bad that you have difficulty.

Richard and I looked at each other and shook our heads in amazement.  Then Emma began to laugh and we joined her.

*The keyboard we are using is a Kensington Keyboard.

**A brief update on Emma and Ari Ne’eman’s presentation at CoNGO last week that we video taped, thought we hadn’t then found we had.  We have not had time to upload it and we haven’t received approval from Ari yet, so it may take a few more days before we can post all or part of it here.  Bear with us.

Emma types on a qwerty keyboard

Emma types on a qwerty keyboard

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How Do We Put A Price on Communication?

Posted on April 4, 2014 by | 26 comments

As I was downloading a couple of photographs just now, I found the video we took of Ari and Emma’s presentation Wednesday evening.  Intact.  We’ve got it all!!  Woot!  Woot!  But before I put the video on here, I have to get permission from Ari and Emma.  So let me do that and then, if both agree, you should be able to view it next week.  I’m hoping by Monday.

In the meantime, there’s something else I want to talk about.  And that is the experience of hearing your child’s thoughts and opinions, interests, questions, and desires, when you weren’t sure you would ever be able to do so.  Now this is a little loaded because there are some who believe it’s wrong to suggest all Autistic people will be able to express themselves.  Those people believe there are some who cannot and it is creating false hope to suggest otherwise.  There are still others who feel that communication comes in myriad forms and we must stop insisting one way (speech) is the only way. They believe we should honor all methods of communication, whether that’s through words, sounds, body language, or silence and using our other senses.   Those people believe, and I am one of them, that we all have the wish to connect with our fellow humans in some capacity, at least some of the time, and it is incumbent upon all of us to figure out how we can support each other so that all have the opportunity to do so.

When Emma first wrote an unexpected sentence, described in detail ‘here‘ it was the beginning of what would turn out to be nothing short of an odyssey for all of us.  From that moment, on November 25th, 2012, we have experienced what can only be described as a dream-like adventure with Emma leading the way.  The degree to which she was underestimated by almost everyone who met her, including us, is beyond my ability to describe.  I say “almost” because there were a few people who met her who were not fooled.  It is interesting to note that those few were Autistic.  My friend Ibby was the first and we’ve written a little about this in two pieces she and I wrote featured in Parenting Autistic Children With Love and Acceptance’s first addition of their terrific new magazine, which you can read ‘here‘ (It begins with a piece by Ibby on page 17 and then ends with my companion piece beginning on page 21.)  By the way, the entire magazine is filled with wonderful pieces by Beth Ryan, Nick Walker, Cynthia Kim, Amy Sequenzia, Renee Salas, Sharon davenport, Alyssa Hillary, Kimberly F. Steiner, Juniper Russo, Amy Caraballo, Jane Strauss, Kelly Green, Steve Summers, Leslie Rice, Zita Dube-Lockhart, Leah Kelley, Lei Wiley Mydske and others who donated their art work.

When someone sees Emma, who now communicates by pointing to letters on a letter board, (which is different from when she wrote that first sentence a year and a half ago) I sometimes hear the following comments – “I just don’t see how this can translate to a school setting” or “It takes too long” or  “economically it’s not feasible because it requires a one on one ratio that most schools won’t be able to pay for.”  Except here’s the thing…  The way Emma communicates is tailored for an academic setting.  Just as in any classroom, a student is called upon to give an answer or thought, about any given topic, so could Emma be given the opportunity.  All it requires is for the teacher to say, “Emma when you’re ready just signal and you’ll be next.”  The aide can then raise their hand when Emma has finished writing.  This would also deal with the comment that it “takes too long” and I’ll just add that our society’s increasing desire, that everything be reduced to a sound bite, should be tempered, and having someone like Emma in a classroom, would be beneficial to all, by the very fact that we all need to slow the f*ck down.

As far as what this means economically, I argue that there is a great deal of money being spent on a great many things that are NOT working.  Things like trainings for methods that do not produce the type of complex and nuanced language we are seeing.  How do we put a price on communication?  How can anyone suggest that having someone who was thought to be unable, or worse, incapable of expressing their thoughts, not be supported to do so because of the cost associated with it?  How can any of us seriously object?  And yet… people do all the time.  And it catches me by surprise every, single time when they do.

To see your child express their thoughts, as we have had the opportunity to do, is beyond anything I’ve ever experienced.  It has changed everything.  Literally everything.  Some people have said to me, “Oh you’re so patient.”  No.  I’m not.  When Emma is writing something, I am filled with eager anticipation for what she’ll say.  Patience?  No.  Ecstatic is a better way to describe my feelings as I witness the outpouring of her words.

How we engage with our daughter, how we speak to her, what we think and now believe, all of it has dramatically changed as a direct result of her communication.  I haven’t even begun to discuss what this has meant to Emma.  And here’s just one more massive difference between then and now.  Instead of me guessing or making assumptions about what this means to Emma, she can now tell us.

“I want to tell you that I am capable.  Daring massively, eager to prove my intelligence, I will work tirelessly so that Autistic children younger than me won’t be doubted the way I am.”                                         By Emma Zurcher-Long

How does anyone put a price tag on this?

Emma Wears A Pretty Dress To School ~ April 4th, 2014

Emma Wears A Pretty Dress To School ~ April 4th, 2014

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Emma Discusses – Awareness

Posted on April 1, 2014 by | 20 comments

“Awareness is deciding something is worth your time and attention.  It is not necessarily good.  Real awareness needs to be balanced.” ~ Emma Zurcher-Long

I asked Emma whether she wanted to write something about autism awareness since April 2nd is World Autism Awareness Day, designated by the UN in 1989.  Emma wrote,

“Autism awareness really does me very little.  It is not honoring or making my life easier.  So many believe I am unintelligent even though I write well.  Until they see me writing, it is not what they assume.  What good is awareness if it doesn’t tell people the truth?”

Ariane:  “What is the truth?”

“The truth is, so much of what we perceive compared to another, isn’t known.  People see me, but don’t understand what they are seeing.  I want people to know what it is like to have smart thoughts, but not be able to prove it.

“No one wants to be treated with impatience.  I am happy when people are aware of how bright I am.  Maybe they have a special light bulb for that.  Shine some awareness on those of us who can’t talk the way we think.”

Texas ~ September, 2013

Texas ~ September, 2013

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Experiencing Without Words

Posted on March 31, 2014 by | 12 comments

Over the weekend we played a story telling game.  The round robin story telling was an idea Emma came up with during an RPM session she had a few weeks ago and it seemed like a great idea for a rainy Sunday morning.  (Unfortunately, I didn’t get everyone’s permission to print our story here.)  Suffice it to say, it involved rain, a family made up of two parents, a girl, a boy, and a tornado carrying a herd of walrus.

Emma began the story with one sentence, then each person added a sentence and we continued going around in a circle.  Emma spelled out her sentences by pointing to letters on her laminated letter board, my husband and son said their sentences out loud while I transcribed what they said, but when it was my turn, I found it very difficult to think of what to add out loud, and so I wrote my sentence down first and then read it to the group.

After each person’s contribution there was much laughter and ad-libbing.  At one point Richard, who, it must be said, couldn’t help himself, constructed perhaps the longest, and wonderfully, creative run-on sentence every spoken.  He did look a bit sheepish afterwards, but the story moved along until it was Emma’s turn again, where upon she said, “All done.  No.  You have to work!”  Her comment reminded me that for Emma this “game” that was intended as fun, was “work” for her.  As no one else was viewing it as work we stopped after the fourth go around, at which point Emma raced off.

I think a great deal about how hard it is for Emma to communicate, whether that is through spoken language or writing; they are both hard.  This surprises many people who assume, as did I, at least in the beginning, that someone who cannot rely on spoken language to communicate, would be more than a little relieved to finally find a way to express themselves by writing instead.  However Emma has told me on several occasions that while she is relieved that people finally can understand her when she writes, it is also very, very difficult for her.

Emma recently described writing as, “It’s too hard work,” but it’s easier for the rest of us, particularly as it tends to be more accurate of her thinking than her spoken language.  Not long ago Emma wrote, “I can’t talk the way I think.”   But it would be a mistake to then assume writing is easy or that she eagerly does it.  And I was reminded of all of this when it was my turn to come up with a sentence for the story.  I couldn’t come up with a sentence through spoken language, but had to write it down first.  What if everyone had insisted that I say my sentence out loud, what if someone had said that it was against the rules to write the sentence down first?

I can tell you it would have been much more difficult for me, though it still would have been fun.  But what if I experienced the world in other ways and not with words?  What if my experience of people and things was not through pictures, words or anything that can even be described with words?  Wouldn’t both written and spoken language through the use of words be equally difficult for me?  What if my experience of the world was completely different and having to translate this experience into words was actually impossible?  What if so much was lost in the translation that it no longer represented my experience?  What then?

Em with her string

Em with her string

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Talking By Writing

Posted on March 27, 2014 by | 25 comments

*Emma gave me permission to write about the following…*

Every Tuesday afternoon I go to Emma’s school where Emma and I do a sample lesson, or Emma answers questions from staff or sometimes someone wants to share what they worked on with her and what her answer was.  As Emma “talks” by pointing with a pencil to the letters on a laminated letter board she twirls her string, and often, while she is “talking” by writing, she is also talking, as she describes it, “with my mouth” at the same time.  When I mentioned this to her at our last training session she smiled and wrote, “It is hard for non autistic people to multitask as well as I can.”  Which was one of those frequent – oh-my-gosh-Emma-you-are-so-fabulous – moments, because, really, not only does she have a wickedly wonderful sense of humor, but whoa(!) how right she is!

Later Emma wrote in answer to the question, “Is it problematic for you to switch from the letter board to a qwerty board, she wrote, “No.  It’s not a problem.  Is it hard for you?”  I was so taken aback by her response, because, honestly I had not ever considered that it isn’t a problem for me, so why did I assume it would be for her?  And yet, I have.   This was yet another reminder to me of how I presume competence as best I can with all that I know and yet, am humbled by constant little nudges urging me to go farther.  How beautiful is that?  Seriously?!

When I began witnessing people who use spoken language like my daughter does or who do not speak at all, but write, often poetically, often beautifully, I was astonished.  It was unlike anything I had ever seen before.  It’s been close to two years now since that first time I witnessed in real life someone communicating this way.  At first I was so incredulous, all I could do was watch and try to take in what I was witnessing.  After many encounters, repeated by so many people, men, women, teenagers, boys and girls as young as seven or eight I went from shocked amazement to a more calm feeling of  excitement, but even now, having spent nearly every day watching my daughter write this way, I often still feel like I’m in a dream.   It is as though I have been allowed into another dimension, and it is more beautiful than anything I ever believed possible.

"Talking" with the letter board

“Talking” to Soma using the letter board

 

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On Being Judgmental

Posted on March 26, 2014 by | 61 comments

The other day a parent felt I was being judgmental because of my Demanding Speech post.  I felt terrible that was her take away from the post, but I also understood why she felt that way.  One walks a fine line when criticizing current therapies or suggesting we do things differently while not sounding preachy or judgmental to those who feel the very thing I’m criticizing has helped their child. And I have to admit here that in writing the previous sentence I initially wrote, “suggesting we do things better for the sake of our kids…” which, yeah…  that sounds judgmental and yet…

So how do we protest, how do we talk about things, things we feel outrage about, things we believe are wrong without sounding like all those “autism experts” I so often criticize here on this very blog?

And the only answer I have, for myself and anyone else, is – stay open to other points of view, be willing to listen and learn.  But how do I speak my truth while understanding that what I say may upset some?  I don’t think it’s possible and I’m okay with that.  Not everyone is going to agree with me.  That’s okay.  I don’t agree with the vast majority!  But what I won’t do is stop talking about all of this.  I won’t.  And while I talk about all of this, people comment and email and reach out and give me feedback and many times after reading what they’ve written I rethink my position. I change, I grow, I learn.  All of this is a process, and by that very fact it means that what I believe, is in a state of constant flux, there’s movement, more to learn, more to understand.

I know what it feels like to feel another person is judging me.  It isn’t a great feeling.  And it doesn’t help me understand the other person’s point of view and it definitely doesn’t make me feel particularly inclined to stick around to hear what else they might have to say.  In fact, when I believe someone is judging me, my visceral response is to retreat or fight back.  But, if I can let go of that initial desire to flee, I often learn, even if it is a lesson in verifying what I already thought.  The most important thing I can do is not preach, not convince, not judge, but speak honestly about my experience.  If that resonates with others, great, if it makes people angry, so be it, if it alienates some, okay, but this blog is about our experience, mine, Emma’s and Richard’s.  I don’t speak for anyone but myself.  I don’t pretend to know what Emma’s experience is, even when she writes about it here.  The best I can do is interpret it, respond to her words, talk about what it means to me and ask more questions, but that’s it.  The same goes for my husband, I don’t and cannot speak for him.

And in the end, that’s all any of us can do.  I hold deep convictions about much of what I see going on with autism.  I object to most of what is commonly believed to be the “truth”.  Yet I also know I continue to get things wrong.  I have tremendous humility when it comes to all of this.  I am constantly learning.  People, usually Autistic people, are generous enough to share with me their experience of things and it changes my thinking.  I listen. I revise.  I tweak my constantly shifting beliefs.  I ask questions.  I continue to learn more, I realize how I haven’t gone far enough in my thinking.  I  dig deeper.

But when I am in a room where a teenage boy is being watched like he is a prisoner while eating his lunch, pelted with questions he cannot easily answer by speaking, his favorite food, in this case, rice, withheld until he finishes some other food, again in this particular case fresh, cut up fruit, overseen by someone else, whose only real power is that they can speak easily while the boy cannot, spoken to with barely concealed impatience and irritation, I’ve got a problem with that.  When I see a group of people being treated as unequal, with less respect simply because their neurology is in the minority, I feel physically ill.  When someone who cannot communicate through spoken language is treated as incompetent I feel sick.  When people speak to my daughter or speak about her, often in front of her, with exasperation, irritation, barely disguised annoyance, I feel enraged.  When a human being is treated with condescension by another human being simply because that person is deemed less intelligent regardless of whether this is true or not, I am motivated to speak out.

This is personal, it isn’t just some issue I feel strongly about.  Do I feel judgmental?  Sometimes, but more often I feel  sad.

What follows are a few photos that make me happy…

Henry and me laughing as Emma tries to convince Henry that the water isn't freezing cold

Henry and I laughing as Emma tries to convince Henry that the water isn’t freezing cold

My friend Ibby

My beautiful friend Ibby.  Photo taken by Emma

One of my favorite photos of Emma as a baby, because even then her personality shines!

One of my favorite photos of Emma as a baby, because even then her personality shines!

Larry Bissonette takes Emma's photograph

Larry Bissonette takes Emma’s photograph

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“How Did You Learn To Read?”

Posted on March 20, 2014 by | 29 comments

A few days ago someone asked Emma, “How did you learn to read and spell?”  Last night, in response to this question Emma wrote, “I learned by watching the words my mom read to me.”  She went on to write, “I was able to read many years ago and could write, but didn’t have any way to show it.”

I asked, “Were you able to read as a very little girl?”

Emma wrote, “Yes.”

“As a toddler?”

“Yes,” Emma wrote again.

What is interesting about this is that for years, when Emma was very young, I assumed she didn’t like being read to because when I tried she would grab the book, insist on flipping the pages faster than I could read them, and generally seemed (to me) uninterested.  But from what she wrote last night, it suggests I was incorrect about these early assumptions or at least was partly incorrect.  I am no longer shocked by all that I didn’t understand.  It no longer surprises me to find out, even now, how wrong I was and continue to be about so much when it comes to my daughter.

Because Emma did not sit quietly while I read to her, I thought she didn’t like being read to.  Because Emma preferred holding the book and would turn the page before I had time to finish reading the words I assumed she wasn’t interested in the story.  Because Emma protested if I tried to take the book from her to continue reading, I assumed she wanted to be left alone.  Because Emma seemed distracted while I read, I believed she didn’t like the story, didn’t care for the book, didn’t like books in general.

How would I have viewed her various therapies, preschool, and later grade school, had we understood that she already knew how to read at such a young age?  Our decisions on how to proceed, our opinions regarding what others told us, so matter-of-fact, so sure of themselves… who knew how wrong they all were?   How wrong we were?

People say things like – parents know their child better than anyone.  In our case no one knew our child better than anyone.  We didn’t.  All those therapists who worked with Emma didn’t.  All her teachers, everyone who came in contact with her, not a single person during those early years ever said, “I’m guessing she already knows how to read” or “maybe she already knows, but we haven’t found a way to help her show us all she knows.”  Emma’s need to move, her inability to consistently say out loud what she intends, her deep need for sensory input, her attempts to regulate herself, none of that was understood by anyone, including us.

Had we not begun to find ways for Emma to communicate through the written word, had we insisted on her “speaking,” we would continue to be in the dark. All the things emphasized in  school for a child like Emma who is physically capable of articulating words made us believe spoken language was what we needed to concentrate on.  What we are seeing is that the less we focus on her speaking and the more we focus on her writing, the more she is speaking.

“Hey Em, do you want to put the smaller string in your backpack, just so you have it?” I asked as we headed down to meet her school bus this morning.

“N” “O” Emma said, as she bounded toward the elevator.

A self portrait in the making

A self portrait in the making

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When the Body Does not Obey the Mind

Posted on March 18, 2014 by | 36 comments

Emma gave me permission to quote her words, written this past Sunday.

“Please remember that my mind tells my body and my mouth to do all sorts of wonderful things constantly, but they don’t obey.

“Sometimes I want to scream.  I am trying so hard, but no one notices and they are annoyed instead of understanding.”

Emma wrote this in response to her gymnastics teacher, but it applies to so many instances where she confounds those around her by doing things she knows she shouldn’t, things she doesn’t want to do, doesn’t intend to do and yet does anyway.  Typically people assume she is doing these things because she doesn’t care, or is trying to be mischievous, or “wants attention” or any number of assumptions people make when witnessing her actions.  But in speaking with Emma, it is clear how incorrect these assumptions are.  As Emma wrote, “I am trying so hard, but no one notices and they are annoyed instead of understanding.”

Sydney Edmond is an Autistic young woman who describes herself as “… locked inside a body that won’t cooperate.”  Sydney published a book of poems, The Purple Tree and Other Poems.  Recently Sydney gave a lecture to a group of Special Education students and educators at a high school.  She generously gave me permission to reprint some of her lecture here.

“People need to know, because Society apparently thinks autistic people are lacking intelligence. Our wandering wayward eyes and hands flapping, screaming, and anxious stimming don’t help, either. But in truth, we polish our souls deep down inside where they can’t see us, while our dastardly bodies act in ways we can’t control. That’s right. I told you I have lousy control over my behavior. Can you relate? Perhaps you have moments when your body does things without your permission? When you lose control and shout at someone or hit out? Well imagine what it would be like if you were just the opposite, and were always out of control with little solid gold moments when all the pieces come together and knowledge passes impulse? For those moments we are the captain of our ship and we feel unbelievably perfect. But, passing time wipes it away. Possibility becomes disability again. Look at your fellow students with autism deeply and with patience. We are in here.  And we are exhausted, panicked, and lonely.”

Ido Kedar, who wrote the book Ido in Autismland writes about the body/mind disconnect he experiences, as well as the embarrassment he then feels when his body does not do as he wishes.

“I feel it’s time autistic people finally say what it’s like to be drilled in flashcards over and over when your hands don’t move to your thoughts, or to have your teacher say in front of you that you can’t count because your stupid hands refuse the right number you’ve counted in your head.  I remember standing miserable and embarrassed, holding the wrong number of straws and hearing my teacher say, “It’s clear he has no number sense,” as if I couldn’t understand or had no emotions either.  When I think of these frustrating experiences I am grateful I am not in that situation anymore.  But many of my friends still are.  That’s why I cry for them.”

Sydney Edmond, from her recent lecture, wrote:

“I found freedom and wonderful joy when, as a ten year old, I was taught how to point to letters on a Letterboard and spell what I wanted to say. I eagerly worked, and within a few months, I was able to communicate. In the beginning, I needed a lot of support. I couldn’t even point my finger when I wanted to. My body, as usual, did not cooperate. I had to force it to, so all my words, stored away for ten years, could finally come out into the world. Do you want to know what I asked for? Well, I asked to have my own pizza. And then I asked to learn ballet. And piano. And I asked to learn about history. I was thirsty to learn. I finally had a way to ask questions that let people know I was intelligent. Soon I learned how to type on a keyboard and have a lovely voice added to my words. I went back to school to prove I was intelligent. I had been tested and told again and again I had the intelligence of an infant. Having a method to communicate turned it around. My language comprehension was college level in 8th grade when I was actually given a means to show what I knew.

“Loads of us, people all over the world, type to communicate. I am one of many, and we all want people who cannot speak to have the opportunity we are enjoying. I hope that my words today might spark a willingness to proceed on the journey of a lifetime. I hope one of you will take action to give a voice to someone who cannot speak.”

Ido, Sydney and Emma all began writing to communicate by using a letter board.  All of them discuss what it is like to have a mind that “…tells my body and my mouth to do all sorts of wonderful things constantly, but they don’t obey.”  Each of them describes their experience, whether that includes frustration, embarrassment, or shame and what it is like to be so thoroughly misunderstood.

I am grateful to each for allowing me to reprint their words in the hope that others will begin to reconsider their assumptions and how they then respond.

"Happy"

“Happy”

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When Time Stands Still

Posted on March 13, 2014 by | 12 comments

After publishing yesterday’s post, “So Many Kids Are Just Like Me” I added a video of Emma writing those words and more.  I hadn’t added it when I first wrote the post because Emma hadn’t given me permission yet and we were still trying to get the video uploaded, ran into problems with the picture being condensed and other issues.  In any case, for those who want to view it now, you can.  On a personal note, I’ll just add that this video makes me feel very squirmy because it does not capture the playfulness we usually have together, and I’m hyper aware of the anxiety I was feeling while we were taping…  Also the video does seem to be taking longer than it should to load, at least it is on my computer, but Emma has said she’d like to tape more, so I’m hoping we will get better at uploading as we continue.

My friend Alex commented on yesterday’s post about the impact of watching Emma write, as opposed to reading about it.  It was exactly for this reason that we decided it was important to post the video.  There is nothing like seeing in real-time another person writing this way.   No amount of words, no matter how well phrased can describe this process the way watching it in real-time does.

I will never forget that moment at the Autcom Conference in 2012 when I watched a boy, younger than Emma is now, write such insightful and profoundly wise comments  that his mother then read out loud during a presentation.  It was that moment when I thought to myself – maybe, just maybe my daughter has thoughts like this, and we just have to find a way for her to express them.  It makes me cry with gratitude thinking about that moment not so very long ago.  No one could have convinced me then that just a year and a half later we would be where we now find ourselves.

It is inevitable that there will be people who say things like, “well it takes too long” and  “how can this work in a class room?”  But as a parent who has wanted nothing more than to know what my daughter was thinking, who believed despite what the majority of people believed and were telling us that maybe, just maybe they were wrong, watching Emma write is when time stands still.  The excitement I feel when she begins to point to a letter is like nothing I’ve ever experienced.  Each letter she points to is a tiny gift wrapped in beautiful paper, as the paper peels back to uncover the word inside the world and everything in it stops.  It is a sensation like none other.

To my daughter, who works so very hard to accommodate my need to hear her experience of the world put into words, I thank you.  Every single time you do, even though you feel it’s tedious, I thank you.  Gratitude does not come anywhere near my feelings.  There are no words for this.  And I know this is a tiny glimpse into what you, Emma, feel every time you are asked to put into words your thoughts.  Words can’t come close…  finally I understand…

Em & Ariane on New Year's Eve ~ 2013

Em & Ariane on New Year’s Eve ~ 2013

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“So Many Kids are Just Like Me”

Posted on March 12, 2014 by | 32 comments

“I am smarter than most people think.  So many kids are just like me.”

Emma wrote this yesterday in response to my question, “What would you like teachers, who want to teach Autistic kids, to know?”

http://youtu.be/rtfJr46S7NQ

There are a number of young people who write to communicate things that they cannot with spoken words, just as Emma does.  Many of them are starting blogs of their own, some have parents who have blogs and like Emma they are beginning to take ownership of those blogs.  On the “Resources” page here on Emma’s Hope Book I’ve listed a great many blogs beginning with those written by non-speakers, or people who write to communicate.

When Emma wrote “so many kids are just like me” I thought about how when Emma was diagnosed I knew of none (of any age) who wrote to communicate.  The entire concept was completely foreign to me.  In fact, and I hate admitting this, I hadn’t spent any time considering neurology, literacy, language, or which parts of the brain process language.  I remember being confused by the idea that someone who didn’t speak, could still read.  I’ve come a long way!

I would like to take the opportunity to list here just a few blogs that I personally know of where people around or near Emma’s age are writing to communicate.  This is by no means a comprehensive list and I welcome any additions, which I will add here and on the resources page as they come in.

Oliver – Day Sixty-Seven
Philip – Faith, Hope and Love… With Autism 
Aidan
Cindi’s Blog
Henry Frost – Ollibean
Matteo – Matteo’s Loving Blog
Ido – Ido in Autismland
Joey Lowenstein
Nick – Teen Typer

“So many kids are just like me…”

Emma with her friend Henry ~ January 30, 2014

Emma with her friend Henry ~ January 30, 2014

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